I'm getting interested in this "improved" version of the venerable 6.5x55. Aside from the costs of conversion, are there any negatives to the cartridge? I'm a handloader, so buying dies and forming cartridges do not diminish my interest.

Is the improved cartridge as accurate as the original, assuming other factors constant?

The rifle I have considered converting is a 1990's Winchester Model 70 XTR in .30-06 Springfield. This has proven to be a good shooter for me in the .30-06 caliber, and I wonder if it's worth the expense of converting it to the Swede Improved. Or are there better options in other rifles if a fellow has to have one in this cartridge?

I'd like to stick with a bolt action. And I will be paying a gunsmith to do the work.

Does anyone have a photo that shows both the original and the improved loaded 6.5x55 cartridges, side by side for comparison?

If you're gonna go with the AI, then you might as well just stick with the 6.5/06

+1 you'll get a little more velocity and I've herd some long actions not chambering too well when they use short action cartridges (friend has a .308 that used to be a Norma Mag I believe) so this may be something you'd be interested in looking at

the xtr should work fine as the mauser is an intermediate length cartridge. the improved version will give up nothing in accuracy compared to the original as long as the work is performed properly... i have both the std and improved and love 'em both, in fact just last friday i picked up a 6.5x55 barrel at brownells so this winter i'll have yet another one...